CU-Boulder philosophy faculty shocked by decision to release report

'We're reaping the unhappy harvest of an effort to do the right thing'

By Sarah Kuta, Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
01/31/2014 08:24:20 PM MST

When faculty members learned Friday that an external review of the University of Colorado philosophy department was being made public, many said they felt blindsided and shocked by the administration's decision to release a document they were told would be kept confidential.

The department voted unanimously last spring to bring in the American Philosophical Association Committee on the Status of Women Site Visit Program to the Boulder campus to assess the climate within the philosophy department.

Many faculty members said they felt they were trying to take care of some of the cultural issues around sexual harassment and bullying internally, but were then subjected to exposure by the administration.

"We're reaping the unhappy harvest of an effort to do the right thing," said CU philosophy professor Michael Zimmerman. "We were acting in good faith to identify the concerns (within the department) and address the concerns, which is why we invited those people to come down in the first place.

"It wasn't our intention to have a public spectacle. Had we foreseen this, we never would've invited those people to come."

The Daily Camera attempted to contact every graduate student and faculty member within the philosophy department. Many of those who responded declined to comment.

Advertisement

Graham Oddie, a CU philosophy professor, wrote in an email that in 2012 philosophy faculty members created a climate committee to identify and correct any inappropriate behavior. Last March, that committee adopted a list of recommendations to improve the overall climate of the department for women and underrepresented minorities, he said.

The department also passed a Code of Conduct within the last few years to show its support of university sexual harassment and discrimination policies.

Oddie wrote that he felt that work was not recognized properly in the external report or by the university administration.

Zimmerman echoed Oddie's statement.

"We were taking steps and will continue to take steps to address those problems," Zimmerman said. "We don't want to have things go wrong that make women or minorities or anyone feel uncomfortable. And people who break the law or do things which are punishable, they should be punished or fired if necessary. I don't wish to protect anyone who's really doing bad things."

Zimmerman said it was his understanding that when the department invited the external investigators to campus, their report would only be given to members of the department.

When the university received the report in November, both Provost Russ Moore and College of Arts and Sciences Dean Steven Leigh received a copy. When those administrators met with philosophy faculty members, Zimmerman says they told them the document would remain confidential.

He said the faculty members were informed at 8 a.m. Friday that the report would be released, which he said didn't seem fair.

Zimmerman said the report depicted the entire department unfairly and made it seem like everyone was responsible for any bad behavior. He said he understands that some people in the department may have been responsible for inappropriate behavior, but releasing the report to the public damaged the reputation of the department as a whole and the reputations of the individuals within it.

"(The report) painted unfairly with this broad brush and so all of us feel like we're being perceived as potentially the bad guys," Zimmerman said. "That is unfortunate and unfair."

He also defended the department, saying he's unaware of any overt incivility among faculty members.

"I go to almost all faculty meetings, and typically they're very cordial," he said. "I don't see people standing up and shouting or people being shut down or people being threatened. That doesn't really ring true to me. If I had seen such behavior, I would've said something about it. It's amazing a department this size gets along so well. We don't have any factions."

Zimmerman said he is supportive of many of the report's recommendations, including the Office of Discrimination and Harassment visiting the department to talk about its policies and procedures.

He also said it might not be a bad idea to remove alcohol from department events, at least for a short while.

Zimmerman acknowledged that his perspective may not be representative of others, such as the point of view of a female graduate student.

"We're clueless about how others assess our behavior," he said. "To us, it might seem innocent or within the bounds. But it may not appear like that to someone else, and I think that has to be said."

Article Comments

We reserve the right to remove any comment that violates our ground rules, is spammy, NSFW, defamatory, rude, reckless to the community, etc.

We expect everyone to be respectful of other commenters. It's fine to have differences of opinion, but there's no need to act like a jerk.

Use your own words (don't copy and paste from elsewhere), be honest and don't pretend to be someone (or something) you're not.

Our commenting section is self-policing, so if you see a comment that violates our ground rules, flag it (mouse over to the far right of the commenter's name until you see the flag symbol and click that), then we'll review it.

The Boulder alt-country band gives its EPs names such as Death and Resurrection, and its songs bear the mark of hard truths and sin. But the punk energy behind the playing, and the sense that it's all in good fun, make it OK to dance to a song like "Death." Full Story